Feature Article August 29, 2001
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Where have all the Thank You's gone?by Bill Rawsome
It first seemed to become noticeable a few years ago, when Thank You notes from young brides weren't forthcoming after the weddings. Perhaps it is the new etiquette; I am not up to date on this aspect of manners, or is it that society is changing? Modern couples in partnership, room mating, etc. still expect presents and registration in wedding gift stores to continue, but the Thank You's don't. I do not usually attend weddings, as I feel that most young couples need the money for more worthy things than feeding and entertaining me. Besides, in this day and age the actual ceremony is anticlimactic during their ongoing relationships. But I do wish them well, and I like to give something personal as they set sail into the sunrise - and I do like a written thanks.This specific lack of appreciation sharpened my observations of life around me. Times are changing. Young mothers with carriages, children, and parcels have doors slammed in their faces. Clanging bells synchronized with traffic lights have replaced Boy Scouts helping old ladies and the blind across city intersections. It is a free-for-all to get a seat on a bus or streetcar; none of this giving the pregnant and elderly preference. So called sexual equality has wrought its havoc; it is everyone for him- or herself. As Robbie Burns aptly expressed the situation a couple of centuries ago, "The devil take the hindmost." We seem not to be helping and appreciating each other as individuals. We impersonally pass the responsibilities on to society to do it on our behalf, and in the process neglect our own appreciation of being human. I muse as to whether we are going down the path taken by other living things, where the survival of the fittest sorts out and eliminates the weak and infirm. Is there really a basis for the biblical promise that the meek shall inherit the earth, or are we lumped in with all other species, and let the fittest remain?Cycles of plentiful food, overcrowding, and sickness control the abundance and depletion of animals, birds and insects. Locusts swarm for a few years, and then die down after devouring all the food. Food shortages across many parts of the world are starving entire human populations. Plagues, whether Mad Cow or AIDS, devastate the societies that have grown lazy or careless.Mother Nature with her floods, storms and eruptions shows no differentiation in wiping out humans and animals. Is this part of cyclic increasing and destroying all living creatures on the face of the earth? What has all of this to do with saying, "Thank You"? Perhaps nothing directly, but if some one takes time to acknowledge a kindness or gift, then perhaps there will be more kindness and gifts forthcoming, and isn't that one of the distinctions between humans and the other species of animals? Are we unique because we are considerate and appreciate consideration?
